South Africa’s first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security will be implemented for the period 2020-2025. The mission of the NAP is to “create a safer and peaceful South Africa, Africa, and world for women, girls and gender non-conforming persons; enable meaningful participation for women in peace processes; and prioritise their needs, experiences and agency in all conflict and non-conflict contexts.”
The NAP locates itself within the context of domestic, continental, regional (southern africa) and international frameworks. WPS resolutions, CEDAW, SDGs. AU continental resoluts framework. It critiques and identifies gaps in existing frameworks, providing the base rationale for the adoption of the NAP. It also has an extensive situational analysis (pg. 24) of the current context in South Africa on different issues related to Women, Peace and Security, including women’s representation in government and economy, women poverty and hunger, women and human rights, and women and violence. In light of this, the NAP has activities both at the domestic and international levels.
There is also a section on WPS structures and practices, identifying South Africa’s role in regional and international peace and security. The NAP states that South Africa has identified “a need to rebuild the country’s capacity to engage in peace-making and to reconstitute a women’s peacebuilding movement that is able to provide support and capacity, and respond appropriately to unfolding events on the Continent,” including in the area of conflict prevention.